Friction
by ariciscoffee
Summary: Kate discovers her feelings for Castle while being with Josh. Will she admit them to herself and how will this affect her Relationship(s)? Later Caskett-Moments. AU. M for upcoming sexual content.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first Fanfiction ever. Reviews are appreciated, please be gentle ;)**

"Detective Beckett! In my office please!", Gates shoutet through the entire bullpen of the 12th precinct.  
Kate, who had been chatting about the upcoming marriage of Ryan and Jenny with her dear colleagues, rolled her eyes and gesticulated towards Gates office.  
"Let's see what drove her mad this time guys. I'll be right back, dying to hear what you've planned for dinner on your special day, Kev."  
With a smirk, she left the boys and headed into the captains office.

Victoria Gates, captain of New Yorks 12th precinct, was enthroned behind her desk, watching her best detective entering the room and closing the door carefully. Beckett turned around and rose an eyebrow in question.  
"How can I serve you, Captain?"  
Gates pointed towards the seat next to her desk and Beckett took a seat.  
"It's nothing that serious, detective. I just like shouting angrily through the bullpen", Gates said with a smirk.  
Confused by her captain being so non-authorial, Beckett blinked a few times before she could manage to answer. Gates was faster.  
"Anyway, it's about your partner, Castle."  
Kate gulped. Gates being friendly when it comes to Castle? That's kinda suspicious. She just hoped he'd still be allowed to follow her around, even after some incidents which took place a few cases ago, when Castle was trying to gift a dog to the precinct to keep them company. Gates, obviously, wasn't amazed at all about the cute little puppy Castle had brought to the precinct and ordered him to return it. Gladly, Tori was head over heels in love with the cute pup and intended to keep it..  
"Detective Beckett, did you even listen?"  
Lost in thoughts, Kate had lost track to the conversation and was now pulled brutally back to reality.  
A quizzical expression plastered to her face, Gates began to repeat what she just said.  
"He's sick. I'm sure he's not going to die but he begged me to tell you that he's got the flu and won't be a part of your team at least until next week... So, let's see how y'all are working without the crazy theories of that annoying writer, it's just like he's.."  
Before Gates could start another speech about how annoying Castle could be, Kate decided to interrupt her.  
"Thank you for telling me, captain. I'm going to inform the boys and will be working on paperwork the entire day, as long as we don't get a new body."  
Gates nodded and told her that she was allowed to leave.

Returning to the boys, they didn't miss a heartbeat to ask her what Gates was up to. But Kate waved it aside and informed them about poor Castle being sick at home.  
After getting a coffee and returning to her desk, Kate decided that it wouldn't hurt to ask her fellow partner how he was doing. She reached for her phone and tipped a short message to Castle.

 _Hey, heard about you being sick. Just wanted to tell you, get well soon._

Just a few seconds later, her phone buzzed and indicated his answer.

 _Already missing me, aren't you? ;)_

In fact, it wasn't so much fun to work without Castle sitting in his obligatory seat next to her. Over the years of working together, they had grown rather close on a friendly basis. She was almost used to him pulling her pigtails that it felt odd to work on her own.  
Castle hadn't been sick in months. She tipped a short answer and tried to concentrate on paperwork again.

 _Sure, we're all dying here without you.. :p just wondered if you need anything?_

She didn't got any answer, but Espo signaled her that he wanted to talk to her, so she got up and showed up next to his desk.  
"You're looking lost, Beckett." Javi stated with a smirk.  
"Missing your partner?"  
Beckett rolled her eyes.  
"I'm not looking half as lost as you will do when Kevin is off to his honeymoon, Javi."  
He frowned and looked like he wanted to respond, but decided to leave it there and changed the topic.  
"If there is no new body found within the next few hours, I guess I'll call it a day early. Lanie said something about a new restaurant opening tonight and we want to meet up there, Kevin and Jenny might wanna join us. Do you and Josh want to come with us, too?"  
"No thanks for the offer, we made other plans for tonight. But I wanna know everything about that new restaurant tomorrow, might check it out later, then."  
Her phone buzzed again, and she left Esposito to his work and returned to her desk.

 _No, mother and Alexis got everything. Sorry that I fell asleep. :(_

She smiled at the thought of him, snuggled up between a bunch of pillows in his bed, typing the answer with a tired expression on his face.

 _Glad someone got your back. ;)_

With that, she put her phone back into her pocket and finished the bit of paperwork she had left before she waved goodbye to the entire bullpen and headed home.

Unlocking her front door, she was welcomed by a beautiful smell. Kate got rid of her shoes and coat to check the ongoings in her kitchen.  
Josh was, standing in front of the oven, creating something which simply smelled like heaven.  
"Hey. I didn't know you'd be home early enough to cook something. No world to save today?"  
She greeted him and made her way towards him. Josh turned and pulled her into a hug, pressing her small frame close to his.  
"Hey" he smiled and kissed her lightly.  
"Dave came early today and there were no urgent emergencies coming in, so I decided to leave and surprise my beautiful girlfriend instead."  
Kate reached out to taste some of the sauce standing on the oven and hummed in appreciation.  
"Tastes like a great surprise."

They chit-chatted about her day while doing the table and soon there was a great meal and some romantic candles in the dining room. They took a seat and started to eat.  
"It's fantastic, Josh. I knew you were a good cook, but this is special." Kate complimented him.  
"Thank you, darling. It's an old family recipe my mom used to cook every once in a while."  
Josh smiled and pulled a new glass of wine for both of them.  
"No new bodies today?" He asked.  
"No, I was just wrapped up in paperwork the entire day. Unfortunately there wasn't the slightest bit of distraction, because Castle is sick. He got the flu."  
She explained as she saw his confused face about her partner being absent.  
"Hope he'll get well soon, I bet he's dying because he can't see you." Josh teased.  
Kate knew that Josh was determined in the fact that Castle was in love with her, but Kate refused to believe that. He was friendly and nice, sure, but he was just being the gentleman he was. It's not that he was treating her special or something, although nearly the entire precinct would agree on Josh.  
"Ha-ha. I'm sure he is", Kate shot back with a quizzical expression.  
"I guess he whining and his family is busy keeping him alive" Kate smirked.  
Josh just shook his head and took another bite from his plate.  
"I know you don't wanna see it, and I'm glad that he's not an option for you. But that doesn't mean I'm not right."  
Kate remained silent, unsure about how to respond to that. Soon afterwards they changed the topic and their dinner was done.  
Due to Josh needing to get up early the next day, they changed into comfy clothes and headed into bed.  
After reading a few chapters of her new book, Kate decided that it was time to switch off the light.  
She snuggled closer to Josh and he wrapped his arms around her, already half-asleep.  
But Kate couldn't fall asleep that easily, the words Josh said earlier were back, swirling through her head.  
 _'He's not an option for you.'_  
But was he really not an option for her? Despite her being absolutely sure about him not being interested in more than a friendship, she wasn't so sure about her own feelings.  
'Focus, Kate! You're happy with Josh, stop thinking about how it could be with Castle!' She tried to calm down her self.  
'But what, if it'd be much better with Castle..? No, no!' Trying to hard to focus on something else than another guy while she was lying in her boyfriends arms she started thinking about random stuff, but caught herself more than once how her thoughts turned back to that previous topic.  
It took her way to long to sink into a twitchy, light sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry for the delay, my own exams phase got me and I didn't have much time to write. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Please review so I can improve my writing :)**

It was early when Josh's alarm went off. Carefully, trying not to wake Kate, he left the bed and made his way into the bathroom, and within half an hour he was off to work.  
Kate, despite his trying to be quiet, was awake, too.  
'Josh's probably saving some lives in the early morning and I'm just lying here, unable to get up and be productive' she thought while turning around to spread herself through the entire bed, breathing in his scent, which still lingered in his pillow.  
She tried to drift off to sleep again, but her mind went elsewhere, and soon enough she found herself thinking about the upcoming days, the past ones, Castle..  
She wondered if he was still as sick yesterday and decided that she'd be unable to do anything else until she found out about that.

 _Hey, are you still as whiney as you were yesterday?_

After getting that message out, she finally pushed thoughts about Castle aside and got up to take a shower. The streamy hot water kept her from thinking and Castle didn't even occurred to her until her phone buzzed while she drank her 3rd morning coffee.

 _I'm never whiney, detective. Well, not that much ;) nevertheless, I'm doing better today, thanks for caring._

It was short, but she felt like she could hear his voice in her head while reading the lines, could see the smirk on his lips and the sparkle in his eyes he got every time he teased her.  
She was glad that he was doing better, because if there wasn't a new body found today, she had a boring day full of paperwork ahead of her. Additionally, she would have to survive without one of this fantastic vanilla-lattes along with a bear claw she usually got everyday when Castle was around.  
With a sigh she placed her empty coffee mug in the sink, reached for her Keys and coat and left her apartment for work.

The day went by without a new body or anything interesting to do.  
As the clock turned 4, Kate decided to call it a day and grabbed her stuff to leave.  
Standing in the elevator, a spontaneous idea occurred to her, and she pulled out her phone to inform Josh that she'd be home late today.

Hopping into her CrownVic, she was determined to see if Castle was really doing better today. The traffic got her stuck for a short time, but finally she was able to find a free parking lot just a few meters away from Castles loft.  
While driving, she hadn't really noticed that it had started to rain and it increased with every second.  
Holding her jacket over her head, she sprinted towards the huge building Castles loft was set in.  
Greeting the doorman, she made her way into the elevator and waited for it to arrive at her determination.

While waiting, her thoughts started to overthink her decision of visiting Castle.  
'What if he doesn't even want to see me? What if one of his ex-wives decided to take care of him and they want to spend some time alone..? What if he's still too sick to even deal with any visitors? What if..?'  
She shook her head to clear her mind and calm down.  
'Relax, Kate. You're his partner. It's all natural to visit him and care for his wellbeing. No need to stress out.'

It didn't really work. Anyway, there was no additional time to deal with it and soon she found herself standing in front of his apartment, knocking the door.

Castle way lying in his bed, feeling awful. His loft was empty and he couldn't get himself enough motivation to move or do anything. His head still felt terrible and the flu made him weak. He was just wishing for some company.

As if the greater good answered his prayers, he heard a knock at his door. First, he was unsure if he really wanted to get up and check who was standing at his front door, but soon enough his curiosity won and he slowly stepped out of bed and made his way to the door.

Opening it swiftly, it revealed his beloved partner, standing irresolutely in the hallway.  
"Beckett! What are you doing here?", Castle asked bewildered.

"Oh, hi, Castle! I just wanted to check if you're still alive and doing well, but obviously you do. I didn't wanted to interrupt anything or come unwanted but.." she shrugged, "well, you seem to be ok, so I don't wanna disturb you any longer if you want to be alone.."

Seeing that her speech let nowhere in particular, she started to turn and leave as Castle finally got what she actually wanted to say.

"Thank you Kate, for caring. Actually, I'd love some company around. It's been pretty boring.. being alone in the loft."

Surprised by his sudden use of her first name, Kate turned and found Castle spreading the front door widely and gesturing towards her to come inside. She nodded and cracked a small smile, entring the all too familiar loft right after him.

Inside, the loft still looked as ordinary and clean as it always does. Leading the way, Castle entered the living room and sat down on his huge couch and Kate took a seat next to him soon after.

"So, how have you been, all sick and stuff?", she asked, unable to hide a small glimpse of worry in her voice.

"I was awful, really, I'm not exaggerating anything or overreacting. I thought I had to die.'" Castle started his huge speech about how he bravely fought the flu and came back stronger than ever.

Kate just rolled her eyes and teased "I see you are much better now. Just don't wanna come back to boring paperwork, isn't that the real reason for calling in sick, Mr. Writer?"

Castle shook his head vehemently, denying her accusation. "No, I would never let you alone with paperwork if it wasn't for me being absolutely sick!", smirking, he continued, "But if we stop fooling around and get serious again; I'm doing much better, but my headache is still pretty bad and I feel weak. But I'm sure it'll be better after the weekend, so I'm back with all my special crime-power to help you, my dear detective."

"You can't stay serious for even the tiniest bit of time, can you?" Kate chuckled. "But I'm glad that you seem to get better everyday."

"So, how have you been without me in the precinct? Are our boys missing me, too?", Castle teased.

"Since when do we call them 'ours'? Anyway, there wasn't a real case this week, just paperwork and cold cases so far. Ryan and Espo are currently re-checking the background of some suspects of a case a few years ago, just to be sure there wasn't anything overseen or to find new leads in order to solve that case. But you missed nothing spectacular."

They kept on chatting about cases and things at work, but soon their topics changed to more personal stuff and revealed how close they've gotten over the years.

"How's Alexis doing? And how is Martha getting along with her new boyfriend.. Karl, isn't it?" Kate asked.  
"Well, they're doing pretty fine. Alexis is busy with studying and stuff, she's almost never at home and I get to see her quite rarely." He frowned. "But it's ok, she'll have more time after her exam phase and we planned to go to the hamptons for a few days then." He smiled at the thought of his daughter spending some relaxing summer days with him.  
"Mother is doing good, too. Karl seems to be a good guy and she's head over heels. But due to that, she's not that much at home, too. That's why I'm home alone, although I'm sick!  
Anyway, how are you and the doc doing?", he asked after explaining his current situation.

"You whiney baby will survive a few days alone, although you're sick!", Kate teased. "Oh, Josh and I are doing really great, he cooked a delicious meal for me although he is quite stressed."

Going on about how their lives were they didn't even realized how time flew and soon it was dark outside and their stomaches began to growl.

"Guess we forgot about time during chatting, didn't we? I guess you've to go, Josh will already await you." Castle said with a hidden sadness in his voice. It was fun talking to a good friend instead of being alone all day.

"Nope, it's fine. He's on duty. I guess I can stay a bit longer if it doesn't bother you... Well, you know what? I'll stay even if it bothers you." Kate chuckled and reached for her phone.  
Castle chuckled and smiled at her.

"Anyway, what should I order in for dinner?"


End file.
